My Name is Nathan Hastings

From 10/16/16 Bulletin:Dear Parishioners,
Hi, my name is Nathan Hastings and I am your new teaching parish seminarian. Over the next four years I will be joining your community to learn how to be a good priest. I am very excited to get to know you all. Here is a little bit about me.

I am 23 years old and grew up in Inver Grove Heights, MN. I am the youngest of five children and come from a wonderful Catholic family. My home parish is The Church of Saint Joseph in West Saint Paul. After graduating high school in 2011, I served with NET (National Evangelization Teams). NET is a national ministry based out of the Twin Cities that sends out missionaries to do high school and middle school retreats. This was a great experience and was when I first started hearing the call to the priesthood. After that I started at the University of Minnesota as a freshman. During that year I continued to pray and discern which led me to transfer into the Saint John Vianney College Seminary the following year. I studied there for three years and am now studying at The Saint Paul Seminary. God-willing, I will be ordained a priest in May of 2020. I enjoy reading, playing cards, cooking, and spending time with friends and family. I cannot wait to get to know you all more and to really enter into your church.

From 10/23/16 Bulletin:
Nathan Hastings, our Teaching Parish Seminarian, was introduced at both Sunday Masses last weekend (October 16). If you weren’t able to welcome him, there will be additional opportunities over the next several months. Please contact Fr. Brian with questions about Nathan or our community’s role as Nathan’s Teaching Parish.

A few parishioners have asked about Nathan’s use of clerical clothing. Fr. Allen Kuss, Director of Pastoral Formation with the St. Paul Seminary, shared this insight, “Each seminarian from the time he has formally announced his candidacy for formation to the priesthood wears the Roman collar during classes, liturgies and at his Teaching Parish. This is the policy in the SPM Archdiocese and the seminary. We do it for the sake of the seminarians and his formation under the guidance of the bishop and his hopes for his seminarians. As a priest for over 32 years, I have been wearing a collar since I announced my candidacy back in 1980.”